World of Chances
by CauseImFearless
Summary: Goodbyes aren't easy. When Alex's best friend, Nate, leaves town, shes convinced it isn't the end of their friendship. But one year without speaking? When she meets Nate again, sparks go flying and they both discover what they've been avoiding. Two Shot


**So… I have a test tomorrow. But hey, who cares when you can write, right?! Haha well uh, I was just daydreaming in class last week and somehow this floated into my mind. It's a two shot since I need to work on my other stories. Im falling kind of sick right now and churned this out waiting for the medicine to kick in. So I'm sorry if this chapter isnt mucho good. But please do read and review (: It will totally put me on cloud 9. :D **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this story. **

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_I've Got A Paper And Pen_

_I've Got To Write A Goodbye and That's When I Know _

_Ive Got a world of chances, for you_

_Ive Got a world of chances, for you_

_I've got a world of chances_

_Chances that you're burning through._

_-World of Chances: Demi Lovato_

Alex POV

It was fall. The trees behind me were already turning red, the wind rustling the leaves ever so slightly. I breathed in the air, mixed with the smell of salt that came from the sea. I loved fall. It was my favorite season.

But it'd soon be the worst. I sighed and leaned back in the hammock I was in. I could feel the weathered rope on my back through my shirt. I'd miss this hammock. It had been with me through the past four falls, ever since Nate, my best friend, made it for us.

Until now, I haven't forgotten that day. We had gone scavenger hunting for shells and ended up finding this perfect place, right between the trees. And we decided then and there that this place would be _ours— _our own secret hideout.

My favorite place in the world.

I could feel the edges of my eyes grow moist, and slowly tears started to roll down my face. I groaned and reached up to rub them away. Nate would be coming to meet me soon. I couldn't let him see me cry. I couldn't make things harder than they already were, even though it seemed to me like things couldn't get any worse.

I sniffled and sat up, rocking myself back and forth in the hammock, watching the sea in front of me. I've always admired the waves in the Fall. They were so beautiful and gentle. Like Nate. For the whole seven years of our friendship, he had been my hammock and my sea. He'd always been there, his concern for me as a friend as vast as the ocean. But it was only as a friend.

I never had the chance to try and appreciate our friendship. And now he was leaving for Hollywood with his brothers, and leaving me behind. It was too late for change, to do anything. Far too late.

"Far… too late." I murmured to myself.

"Far too late for what?" I jumped and turned to see Nate bent over me, his curly hair flopping on his forehead. "Sorry I'm late, Lexie." I smiled, loving the way my nickname sounded when he said it. Like wind chimes in the fall.

"No, it's fine. It gave me time to…" I trailed off, lying down on the hammock, Nate following suit.

"Time to?" I shrugged even though he couldn't see it. "Think, I guess." I watched the leaves of the tree above us sway in the wind. "Thinking's good." Nate replied, and slowly, he let silence creep in between the two of us. But it was the comfortable kind, the only feeling I could really only accomplish when Nate was with me.

"What were you thinking about?" He finally asked as we swayed slowly to the breeze. I blinked back tears, not sure if I should broach the subject again. Finally, I decided to tell him the truth. It wouldn't make much difference anyway. He was leaving in almost a month.

"Lots of things. How Shane can't get over his hair, how Jason had forgotten his birthday last month, how Mitchie threw the popcorn at Shane last night and somehow they both ended up admitting their feelings for each other." I laughed, but it was short-lived and I was frowning again. "How last week you brought me to the creek and then to the hammock and broke the news about your record. I guess I thought about the past seven years and everything we've been through." I could feel my voice getting thick with emotion.

"I thought about leaving."

I felt movement and knew Nate was turning on his side to look at me. "Lexie…" He started. "We've been through this." I nodded, still refusing to look at him. "I thought you understood."

"I do! And that's the problem! The fact that I know you _need _music and that you_ have_ to go to Hollywood just makes this so much harder." I sighed and pressed both hands over my eyes.

"It's just that… I've known you since I was _nine, _Nate. _Nine. _I can't just watch you get on a plane and leave a seven year friendship behind."

Nate's hand gently pried one of my hands away and clasped it in his. "I'm not leaving anything behind." He whispered. I squeezed his hand.

"You'll never know. One year down the road you'll forget who Alexandria Russo is. I'll just be another face in the crowd."

Nate was silent, and soon the tense atmosphere was choking me—nothing like the way it had been earlier. I mentally shouted at myself for ruining the atmosphere when all we had left was these few weeks left of really, truly, being us.

He sat up slowly, pulling me along with him. "You know that's not true, Lex. I could never dream of forgetting you. It's the very last thing on my mind."

I turned to him, opening my mouth to speak. But he raised his hand to cup my cheek, a habit he had when he wanted me to remember something he said. But I stopped him halfway, my hand gripping his wrist tighter than ever.

"What if you're wrong?"

Nate blinked. "What if you get too busy? What if the fame becomes too much? What if your small town friends become just a little too small for you?"

I touched his cheek gingerly with my fingertips before letting my hand drop. I loved feeling his skin on my fingertips, feeling his body warmth, which was something that would soon be nothing more than a memory. "People never truly discover themselves until moments like this come along. You're discovering yourself now, Nate. On this road to Hollywood."

I paused momentarily, listening to the sound of the waves crashing on the beach and Nate's breathing.

"Somewhere along the way, you're going to have to let go of things to do that. Important things." I laced my fingers with his and held it up to his eye level.

"Like our friendship."

"Lexie, don't make this hard for me."

I shook my head. "I'm telling you the truth. And I'll try, promise, not to blame you when it happens. So now when I have the chance," I stood up and pulled Nate with me.

Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around my waist and I wrapped mine around his neck, burying my face into his chest.

"I just wanted to tell you I'll miss you." Nate tightened his hold on me, pulling me closer.

"I'll miss you too Alex. It'll be unbearable."

I felt the tears prick my eyes, and tried to ignore them, but it was too late. I could feel them running down my face.

"You're the ideal guy for any girl, Nate. I'm lucky to have you as a best friend. Promise me, okay. You're not going to let the fame go to your head. You'll remember Mitchie and this town and our hammock." I bit my lip really hard, trying to numb the pain. "You'll remember me."

"Promise, Alex."

"I'm going to miss you, bud." I whispered back. "I love you, you know that?"

Nate buried his face in my hair.

"I love you too, Lexie."

And I tried to ignore the little tear in my heart that had just grown bigger.

--

1 Year Later

I felt ridiculously stupid. And unimportant, which had become one of the things I had grown to hate the most over the course of the past year. I tapped my foot impatiently as I watched people bustle back and forth, clutching clipboards tightly, as if their life depended on it.

Inside I felt a pang of jealousy, and anger, although I knew I shouldn't be feeling this way. But I couldn't help but think: were these the people that got to spend time with Nate for the past year when he was too enthralled with his new life to think of me?

"No bitterness, Alex." I heard Mitchie whisper suddenly when she realized I was tensing up. She was standing next to me, her arm around my shoulder protectively. I scoffed. "Sure. Because you know, after one year of broken promises, I've be anything but bitter."

"You promised. No bitterness." Mitchie whispered again as she guided me to the corner of the room, out of earshot of the backstage crew. "Promises are meant to be broken." I answered cheekily, but stopped smiling when Mitchie shot me a watch-it look.

I sighed. "Fine. You caught me." I glanced around the room at the world that was now the lives of my three best friends. "I just don't think I'm ready for this." And it was true. In the course of one year, I had watched from the sidelines as my best friend changed into someone I didn't recognize. He was taller, more chiseled, and looked… different. Every time I saw him on MTV it sent crazy butterflies through my stomach, a feeling I had never felt before.

But me? Alex Russo had stayed the same. I grew my hair out more, wore more skirts and lip gloss sometimes but that was it. I had barely changed. And now, standing in this foreign world of glamour and fame just made me even less sure of myself. Alex Russo didn't belong here.

But I just had to come and meet Nate. The boys' tour, they were now known as Connect Three, had brought them across the country, to places Nate and I had dreamt of going to together. All I could do was watch from home as he stepped into the border of California or the Grand Canyon without me, breaking some of the promises he had promised to keep.

"I can't do this." I said, shifting uncomfortably. "I don't think I can face Nate." Mitchie laughed and shook her head. "He's been your best friend for what? Nine years, nearing ten? You can face him fine." I bit my lip. "Things changed." I muttered.

"He obviously grew up and forgot about me." I said, referring to all the times he had never returned a phone call, or sent me an email. "He has Miley." I said dejectedly, referring to Nate's famous girlfriend.

"He was busy." Mitchie said impatiently. I pulled out of Mitchie's comforting grasp and turned to her. "But yet Shane and Jason still managed to call me and sent me emails? If they could, why couldn't Nate?" I rubbed furiously at my eyes that were starting to dampen with tears. "We don't matter to him." I sniffed. "We never did."

"Alex—" Mitchie started, but paused short when we both heard a voice we hadn't heard for a long time. Of course we had heard it during phone calls and TV shows, but in real life, things were so much different. I forced a smile on my face and turned to see Shane, Jason and Nate bound down the stage and into the room.

"Alex, Mitch!" Jason exclaimed and quickly put his guitar down and rushed to us. I beamed at him and engulfed him in a hug. It was like hugging an older brother, like it felt when I hugged Justin except Jason was much more protective.

"I've missed you so much Jason!" I said excitedly and pulled back, eyeing him. "You dyed your hair." I said skeptically. "Dark brown huh." I patted him on the back. "Nice color. Good to see you're taking my advice to heart!" I complimented and then moved on to Shane, leaving a beaming Jason to greet Mitchie.

"Shane." I stated, crossing my arms and eyeing him wearily. Shane was always the prankster, and I was suspecting a bolt of lightning to hit me any moment. The two of us stood staring at each other before bursting out in laughter. "Come here, you," Shane laughed and pulled me into a hug.

"I missed you a lot, Hair Fanatic," I giggled, using my nickname for him. "You have no idea how good it feels to hear that, Freak." Shane replied and I slapped him on the arm. It felt nice for him to call me a Freak too, but I didn't want it to be a habit. Still giggling, I moved down to Nate.

Our hug lasted the longest, though it felt like the most awkward. One year of separation wasn't something even Nate and I could ignore. When we pulled away I came straight to the point.

"Where did you go?" I asked, feeling the anger building inside of me.

Nate looked at me, confused.

"Where did I go?" I nodded.

"No phone calls, emails, post-it notes. I know nothing about you anymore when I used to know everything. I want to know what happened to make you cut me off like that." I stated simply. Mitchie and I had agreed the night before that a straight-to-the-point confrontation would be best for Nate and I. But as I studied his face, and read his sadness in his eyes I was beginning to wonder if it was a good idea.

"I'm sorry, Alex." I scoffed and stepped back, faintly aware that the others were starting to drift away, giving us some privacy.

"What's with guys and 'sorry'?" I asked. "It's not a good excuse, if you haven't already realized." I crossed my arms, studying Nate and starting to realize how much he had changed. He was so much taller, so much leaner. His hair was less 'blown-out' but still curly, the way I had always loved it. He wore shirts with rolled sleeves and skinny jeans and ties and converse, one of the bits of the old Nate that he had kept. The part of Nate he had bothered to keep.

"I missed you." I finally relented. Nate's features softened and I relaxed. At least the atmosphere was less tense.

"But I don't forgive you. Not right now." I added. "I don't what you were doing all of those 365 days such that you were too busy to give me a call. Even Shane and Jason rung up once in a while. You broke your promise, Nathaniel." I said, using his full name as an indication of how serious I was.

"I want a reason for all of this confusion," _and pain_ I silently added, "that you caused me."

I waited patiently, standing in front of him, staring into the face of the guy I had fallen head over heels for. Yes, while Nate was gone, I had found out what I had been missing all along. I found out what that fluttery feeling in my stomach was. But by the time I had realized it, Nate had already long forgotten me.

"Alex, I—"

"Oh my gosh! Nate!" I heard a voice screech and turned my head to see Miley. The rich, famous, gorgeous, singer-actress that was Nate's right-hand-girl. His girlfriend. I winced slightly and stepped back from Nate as Miley bounded up to him and hugged him tightly.

Just like I used to do.

"You promised to bring me to the amusement park today." She said happily, and I can almost feel bile rising up my throat. I had suspected that he didn't call me because of Miley, but now, watching what was in front of me, I was sure. I didn't try to stop the tears that were flowing down my face.

This would be the last time I probably had a proper conversation with my used-to-be best friend anyway. It didn't matter how I looked anymore. He obviously didn't care. "Alex? Are you okay?" he asked when he pulled away from the hug and looked at me. "Why are you crying?" He asked frantically, stepping around Miley to brush a tear from my cheek.

I hiccupped. "Because I just found out that the reason you ditched me was for a girlfriend. Thanks for breaking code number 1. You know, best friends before romantic acquaintances?" Nate was confused, I could tell. He didn't know how to handle me anymore, like he used to.

"Alex, what are you talking about?" I pulled away from him, memorizing his features and etching it into memory.

"Never mind." I said, and spun on my heel, speed walking through a crowd of fans with backstage passes. I could hear Nate try to break through them but the fans were surrounding him. I turned and gave him a small smile and a wave before leaving the building and entering the cool crisp air outside.

It was Fall now too. The season I hated the most.

The season where our friendship broke. Twice.

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